Edith Hamlin

Edith Hamlin was a painter celebrated for Western landscapes, murals, and occasional portraits. From childhood, she accompanied her father on sketching trips in Santa Cruz, fostering an early love of nature and drawing. She studied at the California School of Fine Arts and later at Columbia University’s Teachers College, supplementing her education with freelance decorating and teaching. A visit to Taos, New Mexico in 1930 profoundly influenced her approach to Western landscapes.
In San Francisco, Hamlin established a studio, married artist Albert Barrows, and contributed murals to Coit Tower and Mission High School through the Public Works Art Project. In 1937, she married Maynard Dixon, assisting him and painting Western scenes across Arizona and Utah, including murals of the Grand Canyon and Taos Pueblo for the Santa Fe Railroad. After Dixon’s death in 1946, Hamlin continued painting and restoring murals, eventually returning to San Francisco. Her work spans California, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, and Mexico, capturing the region’s natural beauty in both easel paintings and large-scale murals.